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Huw Merriman

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Huw Merriman
Official portrait, 2019
Minister of State for Rail and HS2
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 October 2022
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byKevin Foster
Chair of the Transport Select Committee
In office
29 January 2020 – 27 October 2022
Preceded byLilian Greenwood
Succeeded byIain Stewart
Member of Parliament
for Bexhill and Battle
In office
7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byGreg Barker
Succeeded byKieran Mullan
Personal details
Born
Huw William Merriman

(1973-07-13) 13 July 1973 (age 51)
Brackley, Northamptonshire, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Victoria Powdrill
​
​
(m. 2001; sep. 2019)​
Children4[1]
Alma materUniversity College, University of Durham
City Law School
WebsiteOfficial website

Huw William Merriman (born 13 July 1973) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Minister of State for Rail and HS2 since October 2022. He previously chaired the Transport Select Committee between January 2020 and October 2022. Prior to his parliamentary career, Merriman was a barrister and a local councillor.

Early life and career

Merriman was born on 13 July 1973 in Brackley, Northamptonshire, to Richard and Ann Merriman.[2] His father was a local council worker and his mother was a teacher. He grew up in Buckingham and attended Buckingham County Secondary Modern School and Aylesbury College. Merriman studied law at Durham University, where he was president of the Young Conservatives branch in 1994.[3]

After graduating, he qualified as a barrister at the City Law School. He initially worked in criminal law before working in financial law for 17 years.[4] His last role was as managing director of a team of lawyers tasked with unwinding the Lehman Brothers' European estate following the financial services firm's collapse in 2008.[5]

Political career

He moved to East Sussex in 2006 and was elected to Wealden District Council for the Rotherfield ward in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011.[6] Merriman stood as a Conservative candidate for North East Derbyshire in the 2010 general election. He came second to the incumbent Labour MP Natascha Engel.[7]

Merriman was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Bexhill and Battle in November 2014. Other contenders for the seat included future MPs Suella Fernandes (now Braverman) and James Cleverly.[8] He won the seat in the 2015 general election with 30,245 votes and a majority of 20,075 (36.4%).[9] During the 2015–2017 parliament, he sat on the Procedure Committee. From July 2017 to August 2018, he was a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Work and Pensions.[10][11] Merriman was appointed as PPS to then Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.[12]

He supported the UK remaining within the European Union (EU) in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum. Merriman voted for then Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement in early 2019. In the indicative votes held on 27 March, he voted for a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.[13][14]

Merriman supported Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[15][16] He voted for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit withdrawal agreement in October 2019.[17]

Merriman was the chair of the Transport Select Committee between January 2020 and October 2022. He had previously been a member of the committee since September 2017 and was also a member of the Liaison Committee between May 2020 and October 2022.[18] Merriman was appointed as Minister of State for Rail and HS2 in October 2022.[19][20]

He did not stand for re-election at the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[21]

Personal life

Merriman married Victoria Powdrill in 2001 and they have three daughters.[2] In 2016 Merriman had an affair with a political aide which led to the birth of a child. He is not on the birth certificate.[22] He and his wife formally separated in 2019.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Whitworth, Damian (13 April 2019). "Diet of Brexit left me half the MP I was, says Huw Merriman". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.(subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Merriman, Huw William. A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U283912. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  3. ^ "DUCA – Durham University Conservative Association". DUCA. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  4. ^ Carr, Tim (18 May 2015). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015: Profiles of the New MPs and Analysis of the 2015 General Election Results. Biteback Publishing. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-84954-924-0.
  5. ^ Karim, Fariha (5 February 2016). "Lawyer sues married Tory 'who bullied her over affair'". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.(subscription required)
  6. ^ "Election Results". Wealden District Council. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Derbyshire North East". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  8. ^ Goodman, Paul (29 November 2014). "Cllr Huw Merriman is selected for Bexhill and Battle". Conservative Home. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  9. ^ Cooke, Laura (8 May 2015). "Huw keeps Bexhill and Battle blue". Rye and Battle Observer. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Parliamentary Private Secretaries – July 2017" (PDF). gov.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Parliament Private Secretaries – September 2018" (PDF). gov.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  12. ^ Hardman, Isabel (22 July 2019). "Alan Duncan's resignation just adds to the chaos in the Foreign Office". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  13. ^ "How MPs voted on May's withdrawal deal defeat". Financial Times. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
  14. ^ Maidment, Jack (9 April 2019). "Tory MP dares Theresa May to sack him from Government role over support for second Brexit referendum". The Telegraph.(subscription required)
  15. ^ Goodman, Paul (20 June 2019). "Which MP is backing which candidate. Our named estimates. Johnson 131, Hunt 48, Gove 36, Javid 22". Conservative Home. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Enterprise, diplomacy and resolve: why Jeremy Hunt can lead our United Kingdom". Huw Merriman. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  17. ^ Buchan, Lizzy (22 October 2019). "How your MP voted for Boris Johnson's Brexit deal". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  18. ^ "Parliamentary career for Huw Merriman". parliament.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". gov.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  20. ^ "Minister of State (Rail and HS2)". gov.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Second minister of day announces exit from Parliament adding to Tory headache to fill '150 empty candidate spots'". LBC. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  22. ^ Reynolds, Mark (27 June 2018). "MP mocked for 'having lovechild with former aide'". Daily Express. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Bexhill and Battle
2015–2024 		Succeeded by
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